Till Death Do Us Part: A Husband’s Promise To Never Let Go

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — ’Till death do us part’. Huntsville residents Waqas Malik and his wife Amber said the ancient phrase to each other when they were married three and a half years ago.

But Waqas could never imagine that phrase would become a rally call in a fight to save Amber’s life.

“My dad once said when everything is lost hope still remains, I still have hope,” Waqas told WHNT News 19 on Wednesday.

Six months ago, Amber went into a local hospital for some outpatient surgery to remove a small patch of skin cancer on her chin. Following the surgery, there were complications and Amber never woke up.

“Last thing she said to me is ‘honey, if I become unresponsive don’t you pull the plug on me, I will come back to you’,” Waqas said.

Waqas says Amber has a living will and when doctors told him he needed to let go, he could not make that choice to end his wife’s life.

Doctors told Waqas his wife is brain-dead. They told him there is no hope she will ever recover. Waqas, though, thinks his wife will improve and believes Amber has made progress in the six months she has been in her current state.

“She would want me to sustain her. That is not just me saying that, her living will states that I must,” Waqas explained.

Amber’s brain is severely damaged, but she is breathing on her own.

“As far as Amber’s care is concerned, I am fully committed,” he said. “With or without everyone’s help, I will handle it.”

Waqas brought Amber home from the hospital and plans on continuing her care indefinitely.

“They say time heals everything. What’s to say it won’t heal her? Who knows,” the father of two says.

For Amber’s two sons, 8-year-old Alex and 6-year-old Isaiah, what has happened to their mom is not something easy to understand.